By the time we reach our 50’s, we pretty much assume we have a handle on the type of health issues we may experience as women. The drill is all too familiar; we go in for routine pap smears and pelvic exams, and for heaven’s sake, don’t forget to get your boobs checked. Birth control concerns shift to hormone replacement evaluations. Once we get to the point that our perimenopausal concerns and menopausal concerns are addressed and balanced, we pretty much feel that the primary female health balance concerns are addressed. But for a shockingly large number of women, there is another extremely common health issue that lingers undetected, misdiagnosed, or ignored because the symptoms it displays are simply too embarassing to deal with. Is anyone talking openly about the symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse (POP)?

Pelvic organ prolapse is an extremely common female health issue that remains in the closet, though it has been “on record” since Egyptian times. Hippocrates wrote about inserting a pomegranate into the vagina as a treatment for POP, a type of pessary if you will. (Pessaries have been around since the 1400’s; they are a type of internal support device for the pelvic organs.) Half of all women will experience one or more types of POP, and the number of cases of POP diagnosed is predicted to increase by 45% over the next few years. Statistics vary with studies as far as the number of POP surgeries performed in the US annually. They currently show the number to be between 200,000 a year and 300,000 a year.

Yet this condition remains tucked away and shrouded in mystery. Women typically first become familiar with it when they are diagnosed. For the most part, women are not comfortable discussing POP because some of its symptoms are simply too embarrassing to discuss. As women, the norm is we are comfortable discussing nearly every aspect of our lives with our friends and family, and yet somehow POP has fallen between the cracks.

There are 5 types of POP, and within these 5 types are 4 levels of severity; grade 1 is the least severe, and grade 4 is the most severe. The types of POP are cystocele, rectocele, enterocele, vaginal vault prolapse, and uterine prolapse. Because the combinations of POP types possible and the severity of POP vary from woman to woman, what each woman experiences with POP will be somewhat unique.

With the statistics for frequency of POP being as high as they are, it’s hard to imagine that this health issue is not common knowledge among women. This leads back to the “in the closet” issues. Urinary leakage is one of the most common symptoms of POP, but as women we speak quite freely about urinary leakage. What we aren’t talking about is what happens above and beyond urinary leakage.

30% of women with urinary incontinence also suffer from a loss of bowel control. 1 in 3 women suffer sphincter damage during childbirth. Although there are many causes of POP, and most typically it is a combination of causes that creates POP issues, childbirth is the largest, most common cause. It is followed by menopause; estrogen loss has a very specific impact to muscle tissue strength, density, and elasticity.

As women, we manage to deal with the issues of urinary leakage. We are not comfortable, however, dealing with fecal leakage. The emotional baggage that comes from this issue far outweighs the physical. For the most part, women are exposed to poop in all of its forms: baby diaper changes, pet clean-up duties, manure for gardening. But when we discover that we have to deal with it on us, it throws us for a loop. Our society is very poop-phobic in general, and as women, having fecal leakage issues flies in the face of our femininity, makes us feel less attractive, less self-confident. The impact it has to our self-image and sexuality is huge.

For some women, fecal leakage may be a once in a blue moon concern. For others, it is a more regular occurrence. Realistically, it doesn’t matter if it happens frequently or infrequently because having to always wonder when it will occur makes it difficult for women to feel comfortable leaving the security of their homes. Many women cut back on socializing or eliminate it altogether, fearful that there may be an issue while in public. No amount of tidying up in a ladies room can replace the comfort of dealing with this matter in your own home. For many women, fecal and urinary leakage is so humiliating that they can’t even bring themselves to reveal it to their physicians, or if they do, they minimize the degree of severity or reveal only urinary leakage and not fecal.

There is also a much bigger effect from fecal leakage when we consider the impact it has on our sexuality. Urinary and fecal leakage can create so much anxiety in a woman that she no longer feels comfortable with the sexual aspect of her relationship with her husband, boyfriend, or significant other. Since both urinary leakage and fecal leakage can occur upon exertion, it is possible either can happen while engaging in sex. Talk about a mood breaker…

Rather than discuss this issue with the men in their lives, women choose to keep it to themselves rather than deal with the humiliation of revealing it. It’s easier to come up with an excuse to not have sex than to have to reveal and explain leakage concerns. Often, men think their women are no longer interested in having sex or no longer find them sexually attractive. It creates a barrier between intimate partners, and its impact carries over into other aspects of the relationship.

There is hope and help for women trying to figure out what is happening with their bodies. Once awareness is created about pelvic organ prolapse, and women start disclosing these symptoms to their physicians instead of keeping them quiet, and assume they are a natural part of aging and not too embarrassing to discuss, these symptoms can be evaluated and addressed. Once a woman is given a definitive diagnosis of the type and degree of POP she has, and gathers the necessary information to understand what her treatment options are, she can make the very personal choice of whether a surgical or non-surgical treatment option will suit her needs best.

For those who have been diagnosed with pelvic organ prolapse and treated for it, whether surgically or non-surgically, sharing the information with other women is a step toward creating awareness about this cryptic condition. That sharing will lead to awareness which will take women a step closer to taking pelvic organ prolapse out of the closet. Once we can speak freely and comfortably about POP, women will start recognizing the symptoms and seeking help at an earlier stage.